Civic Engagement, Digital Networks, and Political Reform in Africa

This book takes a critical look at the links between civil actors, new media, and political change, using case studies from Africa. Examining continental trends, with particular focus on urban political non-state actors in Kenya and Zambia, the author argues that new information and communication technologies enhance the efficiency and operations of civic actors, making it easier for them to challenge or overcome state obstacles, but that states remain powerful controllers of key instruments of dominance, minimizing any impact from civic actors using these technologies.

Okoth Fred Mudhai is a senior lecturer in Journalism and Global Media and Communication in the Media Department of Coventry University, UK. His publications include African Media and the Digital Public Sphere (co-edited with F. Banda and W. Tettey, 2009); "Exploring the Potential for More Strategic Civil Society Use of Mobile Phones" in Reformatting Politics: Networked Communications and Global Civil Society (Jon Anderson, Jodi Dean, and Geert Lovink eds., 2006); and "The Internet: Triumphs and Trials for Kenyan Journalism" in Beyond Boundaries: Cyberspace in Africa (Melinda B. Robins & Robert L. Hilliard eds., 2002). He was a member of the IT and Civil Society Network in the IT and International Cooperation Program of the US Social Science Research Council. He holds a PhD in International Relations from Nottingham Trent University, an MA in Communication Studies from the University of Leeds, a PgD in Mass Communication from the University of Nairobi, and a BEd from Egerton University, Kenya.